Iraq ordeal was not in vain, says Kember

 

News from The Church of England Newspaper - 1 September 2006

 

EX-IRAQI CAPTIVE Norman Kember has talked openly about his four month imprisonment in the Middle East and insisted the ordeal had not been in vain. Speaking to a packed auditorium at the Greenbelt festival on Monday he told listeners how his Christian Peacemaker Team was captured last November and thrown into a guarded house outside the safe Iraqi ‘green zone.’
 

In an interview with Canon Lucy Winkett, of St Paul’s Cathedral, Kember explained how his fellow captives kept themselves sane while chained hands and feet to chairs. At times he said some of them felt suicidal. “It’s difficult to commit suicide when you’re handcuffed,” he said. “But I thought when I get back to Pinner I’ll do something about it. It was then that I realised that I had some hope.”

 Kember lamented the loss of team mate Tom Fox who died under the captors but said the mission had achieved much. “The Christian Peace Makers have given attention to this cause,” he said and in reference to prayer vigils held around the country said stronger links had been forged between Muslim and Christian groups.

Kember, who is in his mid seventies, began his ordeal on November 26 when a car full of armed men, known as the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, captured them as they visited a Muslim cleric. He explained how he and Tom Fox were held in ‘house number one’ only to be moved to ‘house number three’ and then joined by Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. Here they stayed until rescued on March 23 but without Fox who had been killed two weeks previously. Kember showed a sketch of the room, which was 10 by 15 feet and lit by a light bulb shielded to outside viewers with cardboard. The prisoners were bound hands and feet to each other, with Tom Fox chained to the door. Sleep was not easy, he said. To remain sane the team had a time of worship together and would sing songs and hymns (if able to recall the words) while praying for their situation. They also tried to have Bible studies with some success: “A Bible study is a bit difficult without a Bible,” joked Kember. Recalling words in Micah about loving mercy and acting justly were a comfort to him while, on the other hand, he wrestled with the book of Romans: “Paul talks in Romans of obeying the government but what to you do if your government is Blair or Bush!” At one point the captors let them watch a video about the life of Jesus but in Arabic, which he said was unexpected but strangely comforting.

To pass the time they made up games. He described cutting up cupboard from an old box of socks to make a 24 piece card game similar to connect four. He also made a whole pack of cards: “I tore up lots of little bits of paper and made some cards which I used to play patience,” he said but admitted it was difficult to play in a row of four chained men. Other games included a version of snakes and ladders where the ladders represented positive events and the snakes stood for negative events. The ‘ladders’ included a time when the captors brought them a Christmas cake while some ‘snakes’ included being videoed by the Iraqis and when the electricity ran out.

Kember became a little emotional when recalling their rescue on March 23 by the British Army. He described how the SAS burst in, cut the chains and led them outside to be driven to the American hospital. In light of General Sir Michael Jackson’s criticism about his team not being thankful enough he said: “I’m very grateful that they released me.” Continuing he said: “I’m still convinced that the use of armed force is not the way to win a war.” Regarding Iraq he said: “I think that the sooner the coalition gets out and some more acceptable peace keepers get in Iraq the more likely we will see a better situation.”

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